Humanitarian crisis in Congo, BWA receives appeals for aid

Created: Monday, 20 August 2012

The Baptist World Alliance® (BWA) is responding to appeals for assistance from Baptists in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to a humanitarian crisis that has seen tens of thousands of Congolese fleeing their homes.

The United Nations Refugee Agency has reported that since April, its staff on the ground has witnessed tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes in North Kivu due to intense fighting between government forces and armed rebels. Many are seeking safety in neighboring countries such as Uganda and Rwanda, while others are looking for refuge in other parts of the DRC.

Baptists in the region told the BWA that conditions in camps housing displaced persons are deteriorating rapidly. Assistance from nongovernment organizations is not sufficient and there is urgent need for both medicine and food. "Many sick people are without help and sanitary conditions are not good," the BWA was informed. "Among those dying most are children. Many people are going to die not because of hunger but because of sickness."

The BWA, through Baptist World Aid, its relief and development agency, is appealing to Baptists to make donations to meet the urgent needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the DRC to assist with food, clothes and medicine in at least some of the eight IDP camps that have been established.

Donations may be made online at www.bwanet.org or sent to:Baptist World Aid405 North Washington StreetFalls Church, VA 22046USA

Great Commission should be part of daily life

Created: Thursday, 02 August 2012

Baptist World Alliance® General Secretary Neville Callam recently reaffirmed that commitment to the Great Commission should be taken as a given in the life of the Christian believer, and that this also includes bearing witness to Christ in one's daily life.

Callam was speaking at the African American Fellowship and Evangelism Conference hosted by the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) in Lewisville, held July 17-19.

"The Great Commission rests on the unassailable conviction that the church's mission to evangelize the world is part of the taken-for-granted, run of the mill, reality of the daily life of each Christian and of the Christian community," Callam said. Describing this commitment as a "compelling obligation," Callam insisted it is not one that can be "reasonably avoided" by preoccupation with personal ambition or distractions caused by the pursuit of creature comforts, or even by difficulties or challenges in one's life.

The African American Fellowship is one of several ethnically based groups operating within the BGCT. Callam addressed the group at their opening banquet, held annually in honor of James W. Culp, Sr. Culp was the BGCT coordinator of the Black Church Development Division from 1982 to 2001. The number of historically African American churches affiliated with the BGCT grew from 80 at the start of his tenure to more than 700 when he retired.

Those attending the event included Michael Evans, president of the African American Fellowship, who presided, David Hardage, executive director of the BGCT, and Charles Singleton, BGCT African American Ministries director.

British Baptists engage in Olympic mission outreach

Created: Thursday, 19 July 2012

Baptists in the United Kingdom (UK) are part of a ministry outreach by a network of churches focused on the Summer Olympic and Pralympic Games that take place in London from July 27 to August 12 and from August 29 to September 9, respectively.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) is one of the sponsors of the initiative, known as the "More than Gold" network, and is working to help Baptist churches to "seize the moment."

According to Ian Bunce, head of the Mission Department of the BUGB, More than Gold is "a consortium of churches and Christian agencies working together as a single response to the Olympics." It collates information and resources to help local churches to, among other things, host approximately 500 athletes' families, provide 5,000 volunteers, give one million drinks, hold 2,000 creative arts events, and host 100 big screen events.

"We also have a lot of Olympic chaplains working at the venues," Bunce told the Baptist World Alliance®. "Street pastors, who have strong Baptist roots, are also very heavily involved. We have had someone working in London full time for the past 18 months to help the church to get ready to welcome the world," Bunce elaborated.

The lead chaplain for the Olympics is John Boyers, former chaplain for the Manchester United soccer club, who is leading a multi-faith chaplaincy team.

Baptist churches are invited by the BUGB to provide volunteers for the service and hospitality programs; to engage with their community through guest events, sports outreach and creative arts; and to join other churches to run community festivals and hospitality centers.

Churches are being encouraged to organize events around the Torch Run relays throughout the UK leading up to the opening of the Olympic Games. The route takes the Olympic Torch through more than 1,000 communities and within 10 miles of most of the UK's population. Events that churches may host include large screen festivals, barbecues, street parties, picnics, breakfasts, children's games, sports quizzes and sport competitions.

According to the BUGB, "the Olympic Torch Relay can be used as a catalyst by hundreds of churches to mobilize united and creative prayer for their communities and the nations."

Baptists are also encouraged to welcome and utilize the resources of short term church mission teams that are visiting London from other countries leading up to and after the games.

The BUGB has also entered into partnership with BMS World Mission and the Baptist Union of Wales to produce Undefeated, a resource designed for a one-hour church service "to celebrate the faith and excellence of Paralympians, address issues of global injustice, and improve [the churches'] inclusion of people with disabilities."

The Paralympic Games are an international multi-sport event for athletes with a physical disability.

The aim of Undefeated is to enable Baptists to discover what the Bible says about disability, to celebrate the contributions made by people with disabilities in British Baptist churches, to become more inclusive in their welcome toward people with disabilities, to be inspired by the faith of athletes who compete in the Paralympics, and to remember international issues of justice and disability.

BWA engaging long-time and new supporters

Created: Tuesday, 24 July 2012

The Baptist World Alliance® (BWA) has implemented several initiatives that will serve to strengthen the financial health of the international Baptist organization. In the face of challenges in the world economy, the BWA seeks to exercise financial stewardship through the continued support of BWA stakeholders and tight management of expenditures.

BWA General Secretary Neville Callam reported that he sought "funding for BWA ministry initiatives from extra-budget sources" and took "aggressive steps...to rein in expenditure partly by opting for more efficient operational systems and mechanisms."

He emphasized that the BWA instituted a new system that enables donors to make their contributions online. "It is noteworthy that at least 100 of our first-time donors last year used our online giving mechanisms," he said.

All this is being done, Callam asserted, to encourage the international Baptist community to do more to identify with the work and mission of the BWA. He celebrated the fact that in 2011 BWA member bodies in Africa, Asia Pacific, the Caribbean, and Europe saw improvements in giving over the previous year, and has strongly encouraged them and the other regions to build on this improvement.

Jeff Bloomer, who represented BWA Treasurer Carolyn Fossen at recent meetings of the General Council in Chile, urged council members to take personal responsibility by making their own contributions and to encourage others, including member organizations to which they belong, to do so.

Callam noted that the General Council decided that only member organizations that contribute to the BWA will normally receive travel and support scholarships for BWA meetings.

In highlighting the goodwill that the BWA enjoys among Baptists, Callam said, "we have a truly compelling vision and mission that Baptists appreciate and will want to support."

New and potential changes in the BWA

Created: Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Both the General Council and the Executive Committee, the two main governing bodies of the Baptist World Alliance® (BWA), which convened during the Annual Gathering in Chile that was held July 2-7 in the capital city of Santiago, are entertaining potential changes to the 107-year-old international Baptist organization.

The General Council authorized the General Secretary to circulate a notice of motion that will be decided on at the next sitting of the council in Jamaica in July 2013. If approved, the motion will allow all BWA vice presidents to be members of the executive, a reversal of a decision that was made in 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic. The notice of motion came after representation by the vice presidents to the executive.

The council, acting on a recommendation from the executive, granted authority to the BWA general secretary to appoint additional persons to commissions, in consultation with the BWA president and the respective chair of each commission. This revises a 2008 decision that restricted membership in BWA commissions to 25 persons each.

Previously, General Secretary Neville Callam made appeals at Executive Committee meetings in March in the United States and during the Annual Gathering in Chile that the BWA should act to deepen and broaden participation within the global umbrella organization that represents Baptists in 120 countries.

Members of the General Council in Chile responded positively to technological advances already underway at the BWA. The capacity of the BWA to conduct live streaming of its future meetings was warmly received, as well as efforts to reflect the life and work of Baptists around the world through its redesigned main website (www.bwanet.org) and a new, interactive website (www.bwalive.org). It is expected that some sessions of the July 2013 Baptist Youth World Conference in Singapore and the Baptist World Congress in Durban, South Africa, in 2015, will be streamed live to a global audience.

In addition, the BWA now has a mobile app and uses teleconferencing systems that allow persons who are not onsite to participate in BWA meetings and deliberations.